An understanding of, and desire
for, sustained relationship-building across traditional boundaries continues
moving around Earth. Here is news from Australia.

"Most Muslims have never met a Jew, and most Jews have never met a Muslim.
Each have deeply held prejudices about the other," says a participant
of "Building Bridges: Jews and Muslims," a yearlong program in Australia. "I was apprehensive driving up to that first
meeting. I wasn't sure what to wear, what to say," said another.
It didn't take long for Muslims Emre and Fulya Celik
to invite some of the Jews to their home for coffee, when Fulya observed,
"Our similarities summon us to come together. That's how I feel about this
program." "If we can set an example, hopefully this can
spread. The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. It may
be utopian and we may not reach it but we'll try getting there."
The Muslims and Jews range from very devout, to
observant, to mainly cultural.
Trust is growing and now groups are meeting privately
in people's homes.
Fulya, the Muslim woman, recited a Psalm to the
others: "'Behold, how beautiful it is when people live in
unity'"
"It's so beautiful, and it's what this is about.
The impact of understanding is ordinary people who meet together," she
believes.

A revolutionary Melbourne project is
bringing
Jews and Muslims together to overcome fear and hatred.

Barney Zwartz reports.

Seven small girls, dressed beautifully in blue and
pink, sidle shyly into the classroom. Accompanied by an electronic keyboard,
they sing three songs, to the enthusiastic applause of some 60 adults and
children. It could be a special event at any suburban school, but in this
classroom a revolutionary experiment is unfolding. The audience is made up of Muslims
and Jews who have committed themselves to a year of mutual engagement -
meetings, picnics, seminars, discussions, sharing religious feasts and inviting
each other into their homes. On this warm Sunday afternoon, about 30 Jews
have made the long trek - both physically and culturally - from Caulfield
and St Kilda to Broadmeadows to share some music and food. The seven girls sing
three Sufi spiritual songs and cantor Andrew Kolb replies with songs in Hebrew
and Yiddish. The Muslim mothers have prepared enough traditional dishes to
feed the Israelites' exodus from Egypt."Most Muslims have never met a Jew, and most
Jews have never met a Muslim. Each have deeply held prejudices about the
other," says Julie Ruth, whose longterm vision is being realised in this
classroom at IsikCollege,
and over the yearlong program called Building Bridges: Jews and Muslims.Building Bridges has attracted some ire and
obstacles from both Jewish and Muslim communities. But even at this early
stage - IsikCollege
was the third meeting after an introductory afternoon in Prahran and an
Australia Day picnic - the participants have no doubts about its value.
Jewish barrister Jonathan Slonim says: "Some of
my friends are secular humanists, and I think that as Orthodox Jews we have
more in common with Muslims on some issues. Their lives revolve around the (religious)
festivals, from one to the next, as do ours. One thing that struck me about the
Muslims is that they seem to be very well-versed in their religious
precepts."
The Slonims thought they would just dip their toe in
the water and see what they made of it but now they are carrying on. "I
was apprehensive driving up to that first meeting," Jonathan says. "I
wasn't sure what to wear, what to say. We were told Muslim families have
less in common with each other than us - Turks, Sri Lankans and Indonesians
have very little in common."We found people very eager to mix and talk,
but very respectful. I was possibly over-diplomatic in asking questions but
the message was clear: ask what you want, as long as it's genuine."Many Muslims were also struck by how much they had
in common with the Jewish families. Emre and Fulya Celik were the last to
leave the Australia Day picnic, along with three Jews whom they invited to
their home for coffee a couple of weeks later. Fulya says: "Our
similarities summon us to come together. That's how I feel about this
program." Emre agrees. "We have so much in common. One God.The same messengers.Abraham the forefather. We just celebrated Eid al-Adha which
celebrates the willingness of Abraham to sacrifice his son. When we want to
bless someone we say 'may your meal be like that of Abraham', because we
believe he never had a meal alone. He would wait until he saw a passer-by to
eat with him or he wouldn't eat. There's a blessing in doing something as a
group."If we can set an example, hopefully this can
spread. The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. It may be
utopian and we may not reach it but we'll try getting there." Julie Ruth had long wanted to bring people on this
journey, via a program such as Building Bridges. After she took her present job
as executive officer of the (Jewish) B'nai B'rith Anti-Defamation Commission,
she found a willing ally in Orhan Cicek, director of the Australian
Intercultural Society, a very active Muslim interfaith group with its roots in
the Turkish community.
In a previous job, Julie had been deeply involved in
helping asylum seekers, where she says she saw the worst of religious
stereotyping. "Even before 9/11 you were aware that Muslims were being
vilified and stereotyped, and that Jews and Muslims hardly knew each other.
After 9/11 it got worse," she says.
"I was co-convener of Jews for Refugees, and we
had a rally at the Maribyrnong Detention Centre. That's when I saw the absolute
paradox in the Jewish community: thousands who survived the Holocaust and
persecution, and all they could think was these were Muslims. I was so
shocked."
The Australian Intercultural Society has launched many
interfaith initiatives, and Orhan Cicek was eager to be involved. "The
Building Bridges project is important because Muslims in Australia
have been in isolation and haven't been able to integrate with the wider
community and other faith groups," he says. "There is so much
historical baggage and stereotyping.
When we started this we could see obstacles. But the
important asset for both organisations was sincerity - we wanted to work for
co-operation." At first, many families and people Orhan asked to
get involved were suspicious. "They asked, 'where does it come from, don't
you know the history or the situation on the other side of the world?'
"People have said I'm a puppet of the Jews and
called me an informer, you name it. Muslims in Australia,
through their own networks, hatred is being propped up all the time. They say
the last bridge we should build is to the Jews. But I say we are living in Australia
and we don't want to bring overseas conflicts and crises into this wonderful
country. This project can prevent that, and make it more secure for both
communities."
To ensure that, the 10 families from each faith are
asked to follow one ground rule: no international politics. As Julie Ruth says,
Israel-Palestine always looms overhead, and they didn't want the project
sidetracked by emotional political debate.
So far it hasn't been an issue. "Now groups
are meeting privately in people's homes and we can't control or censor what
happens there but we have asked them to be sensitive," Julie says.
It was always likely that participants would be
sensitive by nature. Although families from each side were chosen to represent
as wide a range as possible, clearly the more antagonistic members of each
community were not going to get involved. "Bigots aren't going to sign
up for this project, so it's somewhat self-selecting," Julie acknowledges.
"But we tried to get a wide spread. We've got Orthodox, observant - there's a thousand shades of grey. Quite a few are
traditional, who might associate with a synagogue but not be too strict in
their private lives, plus progressive/reform and some wholly secular. That
reflects our community pretty well. One end of the spectrum doesn't even mix
with the Jewish community, let alone others." Muslims also range from very devout, to observant,
to mainly cultural. Their backgrounds include Turkish, Lebanese, Indonesian,
Sri Lankan, Pakistani and Albanian. Most are far newer to Australia
than the Jewish families and most are yet to feel as culturally secure.
This was something the Slonims noticed. Jonathan says:
"Most seem to be first-generation families and they tend to talk about how
many years rather than generations they have been in Australia.
So, from an economic point of view, we are Australians: we are integrated and
middle class."
Jonathan's last experience of interfaith dialogue was
more dramatic. I was at La Trobe University in the 1970s, when it was a hotbed
of activism, and there was some nasty stuff, such as Lebanese Muslims against
Lebanese Christians. We had an ethnic festival with Muslims and Christians and
Jews, and the Maoists tried to break it up and were thrown out. It did help
defuse tensions on campus."
But this time the alliance doesn't require a common
foe. Fulya points to a card a friend sent her that quotes a psalm from the
Bible. "It says, 'Behold, how beautiful it is when people live in
unity'. It's so beautiful, and it's what this is about. The impact of
understanding is ordinary people who meet together."

Barney Zwartz is The Age's religion editor. The Age plans to
follow the Building Bridges program and report again.